Game of Battleships, also commonly known as Sea Battle and Battleship, was created during World War 1 as a pencil and paper game. It became a plastic board game in 1967 and was adapted later on to electronic versions. In papergames.io you may play Battleship online with other players or challenge Paper Man, a robot, in order to win points and obtain a higher ranking! Read our strategies and tactics to help you achieve your goal to become the Number One player! This multiplayer game enables you to play live with hundreds of real players from the entire globe, wherever you may be and whatever language you may speak! Since the system automatically indicates when a ship has been hit, you can maximize your time in tactical thinking rather than talking to your opponent!

Rules of Battleship

Two players challenge each other by using a 10×10 grid in Battleship. The player who destroys the totality of their opponent’s fleet wins the game. After the ships are randomly positioned, each opponent fire upon squares in the adverse grid and tries to sink their enemies fleet in turns. The program indicates automatically whether there has been a hit or a miss. When a player hits an opponent’s ship, they can fire again. Papergames.io allows you to use a variety of weapons: on top of anti-ship missiles, players also have the possibility of launching air-to-surface bombs which strike 5 squares in the shape of a “+” pattern.

Strategies and Tactics to win at Battleship

Battleship is a “zero-sum game”, meaning a victory for one player will imply a loss for the other. Here are the most useful strategies and tactics you will need in order to influence the outcome of a Battleship game and maximize your chances of sinking your enemies fleet.

Maximizing your chances of hit when starting a game

Shooting at the center of the grid maximizes your chances of hitting a ship. Separating the grid into even and odd squares, as if you were playing on a chessboard, and targeting only one type (even or odd) of square, also reduces the number of turns for a potential hit, since ships cover at least two squares. Think in diagonals: if you aim for lower left corner of your smaller section, aim for the upper right corner next time, thus permitting more ample row/column hitting probability. To keep visualizing even and odd squares, draw an imaginary even diagonal line from the bottom left to the upper right corner. If you start off by missing more than twice, choose an area in another section: you will have more chances to get a hit.

Targeting effectively

Once you have a hit, start targeting around the area. If you miss the first time, target the opposite square. When the first ship is sunk, repeat the strategy of aiming towards the center of the grid.
Identifying which ships are left
When you have already sunk part of your opponent’s fleet, you may be able to deduce what other ships are left (ie. How many squares they occupy), in which case you may calculate where it is best to shoot.
If you follow meticulously these strategies, you will maximize your chances of victory!